Nicholas Kristof

A few weeks ago, MSU hosted humanitarian and New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof as a guest speaker—you can see him on the right with members of the MSU Leadership Institute. He spoke to a large crowd in the SUB (Strand Union Building) Ballrooms - the room was packed with probably 1000+ people. I attended because in one of my classes (Lifespan of Human Development) it was an extra credit opportunity and in another class (Multicultural Education) it was a "Cultural Plunge" opportunity, which is a required assignment.

Despite my reasons for attending, I found the lecture very interesting. Kristof has been touring to promote his book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." However, Kristof's lecture did not promote his book as much as it called for support of the cause. He told many stories of his own experiences and those of people he had met, and at the end of the lecture held a Q & A session for anybody who wished to ask a question about anything.

I learned some things I had never known before about women and medical practices from Kristof's lecture. Some of the things I found most interesting about Kristof’s lecture related to brothels and female genital cutting. Women’s use in brothels is a form of slavery and over 800,000 women per year are transported between countries for this purpose—they are actually bought and sold as property. I did not realize such practices were so widespread, or even practiced at all. Another thing I learned which American women would never consider or worry about is female genital cutting, an apparently widespread practice which I had also never heard of involving the removal of some or all of the clitoris and labia. This sounds horrible and I can’t imagine why anybody would ever think it’s a good idea, especially when these women are expected to be mothers someday.

Listening to Kristof's lecture was a good experience; he is just one example of many well-known figures MSU hosts for the betterment of its students' cultural knowledge.

For a news article about Kristof's lecture and MSU experience, click here.

Dorm Life

I do not live in the dorms this semester, but I did last year and it's a big part of college life. Almost every freshman at MSU is required to live in the dorms, so I think it's something worth talking about. Also, I work in the Miller Dining Hall right now, so I have dorm interaction on an almost daily basis.

My freshman year, I lived in Roskie on the 4th floor. It was the Outdoor Pursuits floor, so in theory all the girls on my floor were ourdoorsy. In fact, this was true for some girls more than others. When I was initially filling out my residence life application, I was apprehensive about checking the Outdoor Pursuits option in the first place, but it turned out to be a very good decision. Living on the Outdoor Pursuits floor doesn't come with any obligations—you can participate as much or as little as you want (this goes for any living option - so try it!). We had two camping trips, one each semester, and various group outings, but most people made friends on the floor and did things with them, not as a formal part of living on the floor but as friends.

One of my favorite parts of dorm life was RHA meetings, which are held weekly. I'm not talking about the meetings themselves (although they were interesting), but the floor vs. floor competitions that took place after the meetings. There was chocolate syrup Twister, pie your RA, duct tape your RA, and my favorite, tug-o-war (and many more). My floor became very close by the end of the year, and we liked to dress up in themes for these events.

Some people from my floor and my RA:

pre-tug-o-war.

Action shot during tug-o-war. As you can see, we had already lost, but some of us were too stubborn to let go and thus got pulled over and dragged across the ground. It was awesome.

Another perk of that RHA meeting was I bought Roskie's old ping-pong table for $40; it goes to show what being in the right place at the right time can do for you.

I could go on for hours about the dorms, why I love Roskie, and how much fun I had last year, but I'd hate to bore anybody. Suffice it to say that living in the dorms is a good experience everybody should have - embrace it!

Nice to meet you.

Hello friends and strangers!

If you are reading this blog, thank you. It will be sure to be entertaining, at least by my standards. I'm going to start by talking about myself, because it's fun and easy and a good way to begin a blog of any type. My life this year has gotten busier than ever and I'm loving it. As my site reads, I am a sophomore at MSU this year. Several changes have occurred in my Montana life since I gained sophomore status. First of all, I now live in a house (technically a condo), which is quite a different living environment than the dorms. Second, I now have a job; I never worked during school last year because I was "adjusting" and I had money saved up. Now, ironically I work at the Miller Dining Hall (located between North and South Hedges) as a dishwasher. Third, I am an AdvoCat on campus, meaning I give a campus tour every Friday at 9 a.m. and do other various admissions-related activities, as well as some community service with other AdvoCats (so far we've helped re-paint the "M," check out Christy's blog). On top of this I am taking 16 credits—it makes for a busy schedule.

My favorite class this year is probably my Biblical Foundations of Literature class, taught by Michael Sexson. He actually requires us to have a blog for the class, which apparently will count for a substantial portion of our grade. You can check out mine here. It's the first time I've had to blog for a class, but Dr. Sexson insists everyone will be doing it in 10 years—we'll see. I like it because there's no specific requirements for what you write, as long as it relates to the class or something you're reading for it or any related ideas.

Now that I've established myself, I'll keep you posted on exciting developments in my life at MSU.